Ngwii | |
Nativename: | Ngul |
States: | DRC |
Speakers: | 8,000[1] |
Familycolor: | Niger-Congo |
Fam2: | Atlantic–Congo |
Fam3: | Volta–Congo |
Fam4: | Benue-Congo |
Fam5: | Bantoid |
Fam6: | Southern Bantoid |
Fam7: | Bantu (Zone B) |
Iso3: | nlo |
Glotto: | ngul1247 |
Ngwii or Ngul is a Bantu language spoken in the Kwilu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Despite having a relatively small speech community, use of the language is prevalent.
Ngwii has 37 consonants and 7 vowels:[2]
Bilabial | Labio-dental | Labiovelar | Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plosive | plain | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
prenasalized | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
Fricative | plain | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
prenasalized | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | ||||||||
Affricative | plain | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | |||||
prenasalized | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
Approximant | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
Lateral | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||||
Trill | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||||
High | i | u | ||
Mid-high | ɤ | |||
Mid/Mid-low | e [<nowiki/>[[Open-mid front unrounded vowel|ɛ]]] | ə | o [<nowiki/>[[Open-mid back rounded vowel|ɔ]]] | |
Low | a |
Like other Niger-Congo languages, Ngwii has a base ten counting system where numbers after ten use the conjunction "ni" to add another number to reach higher values.
The first 20 numerals in Ngwii are[3]